[Stardust]

LEXINGTON, KY. — The Henderson County High School baseball team forgot to bring its batting helmets for Tuesday’s first-round state tournament game.Unfortunately for North Oldham, the Colonels didn’t leave their bats behind.
Avery Pitt went 2 for 3 with two doubles and five RBIs as Henderson County pounded out nine hits to beat North Oldham 10-0 in the Kentucky National Insurance/KHSAA State Tournament at Whitaker Bank Park. The game ended in the fifth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule.
The Colonels had to borrow helmets from North Oldham for the first inning and later used helmets from fellow tournament participant Calloway County and from the Lexington Legends minor league team that plays at Whitaker Bank Park.
“I thought our guys were really prepared because they have been over the last several days,” Henderson County coach Nathan Isenberg said with a laugh. “It’s never perfect. That’s high school baseball.”
After the offensive outburst, Pitt said he’d prefer to use other teams’ helmets for the rest of the tournament.
“You know, with baseball you have to be superstitious,” he said.
Henderson County (27-13-1) will face Tuesday night’s Pleasure Ridge Park-Newport Central Catholic winner in Thursday’s 6 p.m. quarterfinal.
North Oldham, the surprise winner of the Eighth Region Tournament, managed just two hits and finished 15-17.
“I felt like we’re better than our record, but you are what your record shows,” Mustangs coach Erik Phelps said. “We put it together for a week in the Eighth Region Tournament, and I’ll take that. I’ll take getting beat like this for us to make the state tournament.”
The Colonels scored the only runs they’d need in the second inning, getting two-out RBI singles from Colton Jones and Kaleb Duckworth. Justin Cessna tripled and scored in the third for a 3-0 lead.
Pitt took over from there. He nailed a two-run double for a 5-0 lead in the fourth, and his three-run double made it 9-0 in the fifth. He scored the game-clinching run on Ryan Ward’s single.
At 6 feet 4 and 260 pounds, Pitt is not your typical No. 2 hitter.
“The biggest two-hole hitter I’ve ever seen in my life,” Phelps said. “Definitely out of character, but he hammered the ball.”
Isenberg said he bats Pitt second so he’ll see more fastballs.
“Back home a lot of people pitch around him because they know what he can do,” he said. “We hope some people don’t know us too well and maybe we can sneak up and catch them by surprise.”
Sam Higgs (8-4) pitched the shutout, walking one and striking out five. Vince Lewis (3-4) took the loss, allowing seven runs and seven hits and walking six.
“The theme of the day was that (Henderson County) outexecuted us,” Phelps said. “We couldn’t throw a first-pitch strike or anything off speed for a strike. We had to give them fastballs in fastball counts, and they put the ball in play.”http://saxo.highschoolsports.net/article...le&avis=B2